Colostomy is the establishment by surgical means of an artificial opening in the wall of the abdomen through which body waste is discharged directly from the colon instead of passing out through the rectum and anus. A colostomy is performed when part of the colon or rectum is removed due to cancer or when it appears otherwise advisable to bypass the lower colon in order to relieve the condition such as ulcerative colitis.
The collector bag which must be carried by a person who has had a colostomy, requires a sealed connection with the skin about the opening and presently a stoma flange is used which flange is held to the skin by adhesive supplied on the flange that holds the collector bag.
The flange must be changed on a regular basis and patients usually purchase flange material having a predetermined sized hole therein and then cut the flange with scissors or the like to enlarge the hole so that it coincides with their particular body opening. Because of the thickness of the flange and the accuracy required, it has been difficult for users to cut the flange with scissors for their own use. However, it is essential that the flange be cut properly to protect against inflammation and discomfort.
More particularly, stoma flanges are usually sold with about a 10 mm hole therein and exemplary outer dimensions of 100 mm.times.100 mm. If the flange hole is not enlarged properly to fit the body opening, the flange will leak body fluids, which, in addition to whatever unpleasant smell may be associated, will, because of the acidic nature of the fluids, cause severe irritation of the skin about the flange and body opening. It will be appreciated that removing an adhesive attached flange from the skin alone causes irritation, but to have to do it more frequently because of leakage and fluid irritation, compounds the discomfort to the patient. The cutting of the proper aperture or hole is therefore critical to the comfort of the patient.
It has also been found that the flange material and adhesive backing is such that in flanges where the apertures have been prior cut to size, the effectiveness of at least the material around the opening deteriorates within a couple of days, increasing dramatically the chance of leakage within a short period of use, necessitating more frequent changes of the flange. Thus a patient must keep a supply of uncut flanges and cut them only when the need arises.
Accordingly, there is a need for a device which has been designed and developed to assist ostomy patients themselves to cut the proper hole in the ostomy flange, a device that is easy to use, inexpensive and can be transported without difficulty by the patient.